You can satisfy your sweet tooth and help prevent cavities at the same time by using the nonsugar sweeteners xylitol and stevia. Though xylitol and stevia have similar uses, they differ in their sources, manufacturing processes and regulatory agency approval status. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration, or FDA, allows xylitol to be labeled and sold as a sweetener, but stevia cannot, except for stevia-derived "highly refined preparations," in the FDA's phrase. Talk with your physician about using xylitol or stevia as a sugar substitute.
Stevia Sources
Stevia rebaudiana, also called candy leaf or sweet leaf, is native to Paraguay. Native peoples chewed the sweet leaves as a snack or used them to sweeten mate, an herbal drink. It is in the family of plants that includes sunflowers, chamomile, marigolds and daisies. Dietary supplements labeled as raw stevia are made from dried and ground Stevia rebaudiana leaves. The products you buy in packet or liquid form contain a purified stevia-plant extract called rebaudioside A. This extract is the sweetest and least bitter of the plant's chemical compounds. Stevia is available as a tender perennial houseplant and some people use their homegrown leaves fresh or dried, usually to sweeten tea.
Stevia and Health
Though stevia is 250 to 300 times sweeter than sugar it can also leave a bitter aftertaste. Stevia extract is calorie free. It can lower blood glucose in people with Type-2 diabetes. Unlike sugar, stevia does not contribute to tooth decay and, in fact, may kill the germs that cause plaque. Stevia leaf was used by native Paraguayans as a folk remedy for high blood pressure. Stevia was approved as a sweetener by the World Health Expert Committee on Food Additives in 2005. Stevia leaf and stevia extract have not been approved for use by the FDA because of questions concerning its toxicity, carcinogenicity, effects on fertility, blood pressure and blood sugar. However, an FDA Web page updated June 2011 lists pure rebaudioside A preparations from five companies as being safe and effective to be use as food additives. In FDA terminology, rebaudioside A is not stevia or stevia extract, even though it is, in fact, a substance extracted from stevia. The FDA position is controversial; natural-foods advocates and others claim it's based on relative potentials for profit from a minimally processed plant that's easy to grow versus a highly refined product of patented processes.
Xylitol Sources
Xylitol is a natural sweetener found in the plant fibers of berries, corn, corn husks and oats. These fibers contain xylitol and its precursor molecule xylose, which is also called wood sugar. Xylose is also the main ingredient in hemicellulose, the complex chemical that makes up plant cell walls and fiber. Though xylitol occurs naturally, it is manufactured commercially from xylose. According to Dupont subsidiary Danisco -- the major producer of xylose worldwide -- xylitol is produced from the wastewater of a pulp mill.
Xylitol and Health
Your body can't use xylitol the way it uses sugar. Your taste buds react to it much as they react to sugar, except that xylitol produces a subtle cooling sensation along with its sweetness. Xylitol has the same degree of sweetness as sugar, as well as its granular texture. Your body can metabolize xylitol, but only 50 percent of the xylitol you ingest reaches your bloodstream. The other half makes it to the large intestine, where bacteria digest some of it. Your body eliminates the remainder in the feces. Too much xylitol can cause diarrhea. While it tastes like sugar, xylitol has only 60 percent of the calories of sucrose. Xylitol helps prevent tooth decay but not by killing bacteria. Instead, xylitol denies the germs the sugar they need to ingest and ferment to produce tooth-decaying byproducts.
References
- NebGuide: Stevia
- "Appetite"; Effects of Stevia, Aspartame, and Sucrose on Food Intake, Satiety, and Postprandial Glucose and Insulin Levels; Stephen D. Anton, et al.; August 2010
- DiabetesHealth: Stevia --- A New Player in the Artificial Sweetener Game; Josh Smith; August 2006
- Canadian Diabetes Association: Sugar Alcohols
- Danisco: Our Main Production Platform
- Purdue University College of Consumer and Family Sciences: The Substitution of Sugar With Different Concentrations of Xylitol and Stevia in Lemonade
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